


Local Gang of Outlaws Find a Robot and Decide to Adopt It

by KeganGrimme



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Cyberverse
Genre: Pre-Cyberverse, literally based off that one flashback sequence from s3e20, yeehaw motherfuckers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-26
Updated: 2020-02-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:00:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22915132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KeganGrimme/pseuds/KeganGrimme
Summary: What do you do when you find a large metal man in the desert? Offer to help him of course. What else would you do in this situation?
Comments: 6
Kudos: 29





	Local Gang of Outlaws Find a Robot and Decide to Adopt It

“Flint, you’ll never believe what we found out there.”

The man in question let out a scoff, his hand running over the handle of his cane. He turned to face the shorter man behind him, eyebrow raised. “I’ve been here for as long as I can remember, Jesse. What did you three find that could _possibly_ surprise me?”

Jesse opened his mouth to respond to his boss, but quickly shut it. He spent a few seconds scratching his head and tapping his foot, as if he was trying to figure out what to say. Flint resisted the urge to demand him to spit it out and got out of his chair, making his way over to his comrade.

“You really are testing my patience. What’s so hard about telling me what you found?”

Jesse gulped, averting his eyes away from Flint. He bit his lip awkwardly. “We found a large metal man.”

Silence enveloped the room. Flint stared at Jesse’s face in the most disbelieving way possible, not tearing his eyes away from the sweat forming on Jesse’s forehead.

“Really. A metal man.”

“I-I swear sir. He’s right outside with Clay and Buster. Keeps talkin’ about a crew of his…?”

Flint moved to prop his cane up against the table before rubbing his face with his hands, a large sigh escaping from his mouth. “Jesse. I swear, if you’re joking, I’ll leave you for the sheriff to find.”

\---

Buster was certainly transfixed on the sight in front of him. After all, seeing a large creature about four times taller than you, made out of _metal_ wasn’t something you’d see every day. Not only was this beast strange on its own, but the way it interacted with their horses was odd.

“I like this one.” A deep rumble came from the monster as it lifted a large finger, pointing to the palomino mare that belonged to Buster. The equine trotted up to the finger curiously, snorting at it with her muzzle. The beast’s finger moved to lightly rub along her head with just the tip, being as gentle as it could. “Reminds me of somebody I know.”

Buster almost fell forward when Clay nudged him in the ribs, hard. The taller man tilted his head towards the giant, silently urging Buster to talk to it. Gathering up his nerves, Buster took a step forward. “R-Really? You knew a horse just like Sunny?” His stomach turned backflips as large orange eyes moved to face him. They weren’t hostile though, more curious.

“I don’t know what a “horse” is.” It spoke, the sound of its joints creaking as it turned towards Buster fully. “The color just made me think of a comrade.”

This… wasn’t going anywhere helpful. Buster turned back towards Clay, hoping his eyes conveyed his desperate pleading for help with this conversation. Before Clay could shoot a panicked glare back, Jesse and Flint emerged from the small shack. Buster breathed in relief. Flint was always level-headed and knew what was going on. He’d certainly know-

“ _I thought you **were** joking._” Flint had hissed in Jesse’s direction. His eyes were wide with surprise and it almost looked like he was trembling.

Oh, they were fucked.

Only a few seconds later, Flint appeared to recollect himself carefully. He took a few steps towards the beast, who now was letting Sunny chew on its finger, and cleared his throat.

“Greetings big one. My name is Flint. I run this band of outlaws. May I know what you are called?” Flint spoke with such determination, it sounded like the fleeting confidence he had earlier returned to him in a rush.

The large one didn’t say anything at first, its eyes running over the four men standing in front of it, like it was calculating a plan of some sort. It blinked and lowered itself even closer to the men, a metallic noise coming from its stomach as it landed on the ground. “My designation is Wildwheel. I am an autobot member of the ARK. At least, I used to be.”

“Wildwheel, huh?” Clay muttered, scratching his beard. “Fitting name for somebody out here. I like it.” Without missing a beat, he glanced at Flint. “Can we keep ‘em?”

The “autobot” followed Clay’s gaze, locking eyes with Flint as well. He made a clicking noise of disagreement and stood up, brushing the dirt off his belly. “I appreciate the invite. But I can’t stay here. I need to go find my crew.”

“Hold on Mr. Wheel.” Flint raised the hand that wasn’t settled on his cane, signalling Wildwheel to listen. After a pause, he obeyed and settled back down on the ground. Flint tapped his cane. “I understand that you’re in a rush to find your… friends. However, you can’t go off alone in the west. You’re clearly something different, and you don’t have a clue how to survive out there. Despite being the massive thing you are, you would easily get captured by the sheriff. I don’t know what would happen then, but it wouldn’t be good.”

“You’d probably get taken apart like those old guns.” Jesse agreed.

Wildwheel narrowed his eyes at the statement, shifting his mass in a threatening position.

“Woah buddy! Jesse didn’t mean anything like that happening _here_.” Buster raised his hands carefully, signalling the lack of hostility. “Others would definitely do this, but not us. What would we even use your parts for?”

“So… what if we keep h-“

“We’re not keeping him, Clay.” Flint groaned. “This is clearly an intelligent being. Not a wild stallion.”

“Well it appears I don’t have a choice!” The roar that came from Wildwheel startled the four men. “I’m stuck here without a way to find my crew. What else am I supposed to do!?”

The humans stayed quiet, shifting glances between them. Buster was the one who said what the rest were all thinking.

“Why don’t we go with you? We can show you how to get through this place, and you can help us out in return.”

Wildwheel cocked his eyebrow, eyeing Buster up and down for any malicious intent. When he couldn’t find any, he stood up once more, shaking sand off his body. “And you wouldn’t hand me over to the decepticons if they offered a reward?”

“What on Earth are decepticons?”

Wildwheel shut his eyes at the question, a smile breaking out across his face. “Ah, I see. A planet untouched by those creeps.”

“Seriously, what are-“

“Very well!” Wildwheel placed his palm to his chest, looking down at Flint. “I swear to you that I, Wildwheel of Cybertron, will aid you in your goals while you aid me with mine.”

After the surprise of the moment cooled off, Flint placed his own hand to his chest, mimicking Wildwheel’s actions. “And I shall do the same.”

“Is nobody going to question how he said he was from somewhere called “Cybertron”?” Buster whispered to Jesse.

The other man shrugged in response. “Weirder things have happened out here. An alien is nothing that special.”

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah. Earlier I made a post on my tumblr wondering if Wildwheel had befriended the outlaws he hung out with. I like found family stuff and who doesn't like the mental image of a gang of cowboys looking at a big fucking robot and going "yeah, that's our boy now"?


End file.
